METEOR BOREALIS - 4K real-time meteors shooting through the aurora borealis - Norway
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- Опубліковано 15 гру 2021
- 👉 Please consider supporting my channel by buying me a coffee at: www.buymeacoffee.com/nightlights
Meteor Borealis is a compilation of 4K real-time footage of meteors shooting through the aurora borealis taken by us in northern Norway throughout the past two seasons. Don't blink and make a wish!
In this video, we used the Sony a7sIII, the Sigma 14mm f1.8 and the Sony 14mm f1.8. Finding the right settings and the right picture profile with this camera has been extremely challenging, and the end result actually didn't live up to our expectations (with the current firmware, that is). Although the camera is undeniably one of the most advanced on the market for many things (10 bit 4:2:2 filming, 4K 120 fps...), we put the camera to the test for extreme low light capabilities and compared it to its predecessors (Sony a7s and a7sII), and the results are staggering. I can without the shadow of a doubt say that for extreme low light (outside of city lights), there was no improvements compared to the mark I and II of the same series. And worse than this, technically speaking, the camera underperformed! Yes, you read correctly! It has to do with how the camera was built, both the hardware and the firmware. To accommodate all the new specs of the camera, Sony was forced to implement HEAVY noise reduction algorithms that cannot be turned off. This camera has a dual gain circuit with a second range of ISOs for which the camera boosts the signal internally and cleans up the footage.
That much is clear on paper, and you can actually see the difference while testing the camera between ISO 10K and 12800 on S-log 3 gamma for example (Each gamma has its own base ISO when it comes to that second gain range). What the paper doesn't say, however, is the extremely heavy noise reduction algorithm that kicks in 9 increments (3 full stops) into this second range to try and mitigate the sporadic salt and pepper noise (white pixels in the shadows and dark pixels in the highlights). In practice, this algorithm is extremely detrimental to astrophotography as it literally eats 50% of the visible stars. You read me correctly: 50%! If you wondered why some of these sequences have no stars except the bigger ones, that's because I didn't know better back then when I shot them. It took me a full year to understand this! The algorithm not only does this, but it also introduces some nasty noise artifacts, and over-smoothed look and heavy halos around darker objects like branches or mountains. The worst part is, this algorithm kicks in very early in the ISO range for each respective gamma. For example, the last useable ISO before the star-eater is: Cine 1 (8000), Cine 2 (6400), Cine 3 (10000), S-Log 3 (80000), no PP (10000), S-cinetone (12800), ITU709(800%) (80000). After testing, I can tell you that in pitch black conditions, S-Log and ITU perform the worst as they are PP to be overexposed, so you should push them to ISO 400K to get the best exposure, but you're in the star-eater range and the footage just doesn't look good right out of the camera. So you are left with the Cine series, which used to perform really well on the a7s and a7sII around ISO25K-51K and gave very well exposed footage with 1.4/1.8 lenses and 1/25''. But because of that star-eater algorithm, you simply just can't and the footage looks absolutely horrendous at the same ISOs on the a7sIII, especially for aurora. I compared Apple ProRes rendered footage from the a7s (HD) and a7sIII (4K) on a 4K calibrated monitor, and the HD footage with no noise reduction looks equally as good if not better than the 4K footage where noise reduction had to be applied! So, I have found a temporary solution for this issue with the Sony a7sIII, which I will only reveal to my Buy Me A Coffee members in a future article (link above to become a member), which gives much better results (although heavy problems when encoded into h.264, you'll see in this video what I'm talking about). Sorry about this rant, but I really hope Sony does better by improving the firmware on the next upgrade, because this camera is not cutting it for me concerning its main advertised purpose: filming in low light.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this compilation, which is still very rare and cool in my opinion, and that you can benefit from the info above (maybe consider the a7sII before jumping head first into the hype of the sIII).
All the footage is available in 4K 24 fps 10-bits 4:2:2 for licensing and may not be used for any purpose without our prior consent. E-mail us at nightlightsfilms@gmail.com for any inquiry. Enjoy, and don't forget to like, share and subscribe for more videos! - Фільми й анімація
Yet another great video by Adrien! 😀 Remember folks... No shooting stars was harmed during this shooting of shooting stars 👍🏻😉👍🏻 🦉📷🔭☄☄☄🌠
Such a beautiful clip and such an apt time, always love and blessing and a thank you so xx
Breathtaking Awestrucking incredible clarity video I've seen in a while!!!
Thank so very kindly and Namaste🤗
your videos man...just make me feel so tiny and sceptical also very relaxed and happy.. strange feeling i cant explain... but.. i can tell you a big big THANK YOU deep down from my heart!
Very cool footage 👍👍👍
Nice capture, thanks!
Gifted are those who got to see this sight before they die 🌌❣️
Fantastic! We aren't going to heaven, we already live there!!! 😍❤💚💜
Thanks my friend!! We are indeed :)
Outstanding! Breath-takingly beautiful 🌼
Thx!!
Thanks for your amazing work!
Again Adrien, you have taken me into sights I can only dream of. Thank you and I hope your toes didn't get too cold.
Thank you so much!!
Just like a Heaven on earth
💖 🌎 💖
Brilliant footage. 👌👍
Thanks!!
What a beautiful and peaceful compilation. Majestic and serene at the same time!! Thank you so very much for all of your time, work and bearing the elements to capture these gorgeous shots. Theresa
PS I had fun storm chasing last night. Got me out of the funk I was in with the damage from last weeks disasters south of me. Thank you, again. Your work and inspiration have been outstanding help to me!👍👍👏👏🙏🙏❤💯📸💯🎄🤯
Thank you so much Theresa!! I'm so happy my work can serve as inspiration to others :)
Excellent!
Fantastic ☆❤
#myrespect
Sublime vidéo de ces aurores boréales et de ces météores dans ce pur ciel de Norvège 😍😍😍
Merci beaucoup Philippe!!
A beautiful spectacle...
Thank you!!
This is such a beautiful video! Watched it two times already! Working with a TV station from my country we covered this meteor shower twice and also the northern lights. And you did such a wonderful job combining both! We use a7s1 and a7s2, it’s good to know I don’t have to rush to change for the a7s3, but clearly I’ll need to expend more time improving the image of both for this kind of shooting, so thank you for the tip too!!
Thanks!! Yeah please don’t rush into the a7sIII! :)
Another great video! I really enjoy watching aurora and meteors in this rare form of video, it is usually just photo of meteor or time-lapse of aurora. Personally I don't find the star eating the problem in this video, the subject is the meteors and aurora anyway. these footages look really clean and have very low noise in the foreground (especially 0:36), so would personally prefer low noise than seeing more faint stars. But that is just my preference for this video :)
I tend to agree with you when it's just aurora, but the star eating algorithm also eats up the small shooting stars, so when you wanna show meteors, it's not optimal at all. And as a principle, I just don't like it, probably because I love the science part of astronomy so much!
sublime !!
Thanks Thomas!
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!🌠🌠🌠🌀🌀🌠🌠🌠🌀🌀🌠🌠🌠
grazie
spectaculare
Thx!!
Wow!!!♡
:)
ça y est, je viens de comprendre, dans le nord de la Norvège, les nuits durent 6 mois et le 14 juillet toute l'année ! :))
Blague à part, bravo pour ces superbes images !
j'imagine que pour de telles vidéos, l'A7SIII est une "bête" pas très docile, mais la pratique et l'astuce sont les atouts maitres des très bons photographes ...
... dont tu fait partie depuis longtemps !
Merci beaucoup :) Oui c'est sur!!
Beautiful!!!! im not an expert on cameras or anything like that, but I really appreciate the details and explanation you gave about this film. If you dont say those details one would think all is perfect, but as i like to say the best camera is in us, our eyes 🙄☄
I completely agree with you! No cameras can ever reproduce the real-time experience!
@@NightLightsFilms What a really nice work you have. Very inspiring and peaceful!!
Beautiful footage! I shoot my a7s III in Bortle 2 or 3 skies mostly, couple of times a year I'll make it to a Bortle 1. I've found very similar issues around star eater in extreme low light, and very few in-depth resources online covering best settings for such scenarios. All the "low light" guides I've found are of studios or city scapes at night which even my M43 GH5 could capture with a fast prime.
Anyway, I've managed to get around the worst of it too I think. Like you though I was perhaps a little underwhelmed (compared to my previous a7s) given the price point, even though I still consider the a7s III to be the best all around video hybrid I've ever owned. If I were to have my choice again, I think I'd be hard pressed between the a7s III and a7 IV. 4k footage produced from 7k oversampled full sensor width in 10-bit 4:2:2 should bring with it some decent gains in noise reduction through downsampling. Will be interesting to see how the new cameras play out in this regard.
I agree with you! I simply hope they come around with a much better firmware than the one that is now!
Great stuff and great rant about the low light capabilities of the A7S III 😅. I tested it also on my last trip to Senja and did not really see too much if any difference to the low light performance of my A7 III. Would be interesting to see how the A7 IV performs! And would also be interesting to hear your final solution for the settings, guess I'll have to buy you a coffee...
The funny part is that my partner gets equal/better footage from the a7III! I can tell you there is a big difference in footage quality between the two. The a7sIII processes noise much differently, and there is not that fine grain anymore, everything is smoothed out. I'm also keen to know how the a7iv, and maybe an a7sIV in the future. Sony haven't been really good with some of their IIIs in the r and s series. I remember the a7rIII being pretty bad with noise! Let's see.
I think frequency was bit lower this is year ?! Weather has ruined it for me but your video made it much easier for me. 🙃
That’s not only geminids though :) personally the rate was as good as last year for us here
@@NightLightsFilms Still blessed to experience it without being there.🙃
If thats not magic I simply don't know what magic is😇
A wonderful and beautiful video ! Thank you very much! 😍 Sorry, but the music is really horrific and annoying and spoiled the pictures enjoyment! 😩
The lapping of the water and the wind would be right and natural in the quiet of the night!
好